Making Room for Baby
My house is trashed. Ever so much more trashed than usual. Jeff and I have collected so many things, so much stuff, individually and collectively. The challenge of conceptualizing a place for everything seems insurmountable, much less trying to make it a reality without an bottomless gift card from Ikea or Home Depot. Bean’s room will be mostly empty and the option of using some of the room for non-Bean stuff is very alluring but, and it sounds so corny, the energy of the room needs to be Bean’s energy, not mom & dad’s storage energy.
All’s well with the Bean. No further along the labor track but damn if Bean hasn’t become the active thing. Up till the last week or so, Bean was a lounging baby; butt settled to the left of my bellybutton, foot planted below my rib cage on the right. Now, if I time standing up with one of Bean’s gyrations just right, it’s like having my stomach drop during a roller coaster ride. Oof! My barge belly drops lower and lower, it seems like with each passing day. And Bean has found the most interesting nerve to balance his head on. The indigestion and reflux are obviously milder with Bean moving down my torso and giving my stomach room to do its job. However, it’s a new adventure in sleeping trying to find a position that doesn’t inconvenience the Child of the Legendary Jeff Sinclair. Trust me, Bean lets me know it, too.
Kicking up a lot of dust with the renovation work. I am a sneezing machine. Poor Bean. The most frustrating part of all this is just how little I accomplish. I can’t lift heavy stuff - hell, I get winded carrying a 12-pack of Cokes. The dust reaction wears me out. Bean’s long march into my pelvic girdle is putting pressure on nerves and muscles that aren’t used to it. It’s hard to accept that my contribution is so limited. I mean, I know how to steam clean a carpet but the steamer is too heavy for me to haul around. There is so much that needs to be done and I feel so useless sometimes.
All in all, though, I’m excited. We *really* needed to renovate and declutter our house. I’m getting a washer and dryer in the house! Yay! The electrical work got finished in the spare room and our little home network has been successfully transplanted. Both rooms still need to be cleaned up and out so we can complete the computer room relocation and get bedroom relocation started. The bathroom is mostly redone. Minor decor and trim work is all that’s left to be finished there. For those who are familiar with the Ruins of Pompeii that was our bathroom, you must stop by for a whiz sometime soon and experience the blindingly white expanse of the Sinclair Salle de Bain.
As for the Bean, when folks ask me when I’m due, I look at my watch and smile. I’m ready to carry Bean into October if that’s how long she needs to finish her intra-uterine business but whenever he’s ready, I will be too. There’s lots of stuff with duckies on ‘em waiting for you, kid...